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Submission: 11/01/2011- Acceptance: 20/02//2011 ES32 (2011): 179-201

BREAKINGBOUNDARIES AND

DISLOCATING MYTHSIN LVARO

CUNQUEIROSFUNCIN DE ROMEO E

XULIETA, FAMOSOSNAMORADOS (1956): A

GALICIAN ADAPTATION

OF SHAKESPEARESROMEO AND JULIETINTHE 20TH CENTURY73

Rubn Jarazo lvarezUniversidad de A Corua

Elena Domnguez Romero

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Abstract

lvaro Cunqueiros treatment ofspace is subtler than critics have untilvery recently believed it to be.Creating a mythical Atlantic realm,where Galicia is placed at the samelevel as Brittany or Ireland, has

proved of great importance tointellectuals, including Cunqueiro,who stand opposed to the cultural

Resumen

El tratamiento del espacio en lvaroCunqueiro siempre ha sido ms sutil de loque la crtica ha reconocido hasta hace muy

poco. La creacin de una esfera mticaatlntica, en la que Galicia se sita al mismonivel que la Bretaa Francesa o Irlanda, hademostrado ser de gran importancia paraaquellos intelectuales que se han

posicionado contra la dominacin cultural

73 This article has been possible thanks to Rede de lingua e literatura inglesa e identidade(2007/000145-0) in accordance with the Xunta de Galicia and the European RegionalDevelopment Fund (ERDF), as well as the research projects Msica y literatura irlandesa y sucorrelato en la cultura gallega (PGIDIT07PXIB159223PR), Teatro isabelino en Galicia:Recepcin Cultural y Literaria en lvaro Cunqueiro (Deputacin da Corua), and Programangeles Alvario 2009 (Programa de Recursos Humanos) in accordance with the Xunta de

Galicia. All of the aforementioned are hereby formally acknowledged.


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domination of the Mediterranean.This is posed in the authors Galicianadaptation of the Shakespeareanoriginal,Romeo and Juliet, alongside

the negation of a common space forcommunication. In that sense, the

present analysis shows thatCunqueiros adaptation is essential indenouncing cultural repression in

peripheral Galicia, though criticshave hitherto paid little attention tothis and rather have tended todemonise the authors attitudetowards evasive literature, and accusehim of an inability to understandingthe suffering of the Galiciancommunity under Francoism.Criticism should now encourage asecond reading of CunqueirosShakespearean adaptations in termsof geographical, cultural, andsymbolic location.

Key Words: Shakespeare, Cunqueiro,Romeo, Juliet, dislocating myths,

Comparative literature, ReceptionStudies.

del Mediterrneo, Cunqueiro entre ellos.Esta cuestin se plantea en la adaptacingallega del autor de la versin Romeo yJulieta de William Shakespeare, adems de

la negacin de un espacio comn para lacomunicacin. En ese sentido, el presenteanlisis muestra cmo la adaptacin deCunqueiro es esencial en el proceso dedenuncia contra la represin cultural en elsistema perifrico gallego. Todo ello sumadoa la falta de atencin prestada por la crtica ala obra y la demonizacin del autor y suliteratura evasiva, como supuesta falta desensibilidad ante los problemas de lacomunidad gallega durante el Franquismo.Con esta propuesta, se pretende que la crticaen una segunda lectura de las adaptacionesshakesperianas de Cunqueiro advierta elvalor del tratamiento espacial geogrfico,cultural y simblico en la mencionada obracomo catalizador de una denuncia socialvelada.

Palabras clave: Shakespeare, Cunqueiro,Romeo, Julieta, traslacin, mitos, Literatura

comparada, Estudios de Recepcin.

lvaro Cunqueiro (1911-1981), one of the foremost writers of twentieth-century Galician literature, was an exceptionally prolific author and his

published works include a great deal of poetry, essays, translations, drama andfiction. His accomplishments as a linguist allowed him to explore a wide varietyof foreign literatures and thus his work is also characterised by an easyfamiliarity with classic literature. He is often considered as a re-maker of

ancient myths for modern times.74

Writing in both Galician and Castilian, healso had a long career as a journalist in Madrid and in his native Galicia. Manyof the innovative collaborations that Cunqueiro wrote for newspapers andcultural magazines over the years have somehow related to the Shakespearian

74 Cunqueiros works include Merln e familia (Merlin and Company) (1955), Crnicas doSochantre (Chronicles of the Subchantor) (1956), O incerto Seor Don Hamlet: Prncipe deDinamarca (The Uncertain Don Hamlet, Prince of Denmark) (1958), Las mocedades de Ulises(The Boyhood Deeds of Ulysses) (1960), Un hombre que se pareca a Orestes (A Man Who

Looked Like Orestes) (1969),El ao del cometa (The Year of the Comet) (1974).


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tradition. This is true in the case of The UncertainDon Hamlet, Prince ofDenmarkor the essay As mil caras de Shakespeare (The Thousand Faces ofShakespeare), an extensive essay on the life and works of William Shakespeare

published in Grial (1964).75 Yet the relationship that Cunqueiro establishedwith the English speaking cultures should not be considered as a uniqueoccurrence within twentieth-century Galician literature during the Spanish post-Civil War period. In fact, Cunqueiro inherited Celticism in Galicia, a

phenomenon which was established well into the 18th century, as demonstratedby the interest shown by numerous Galician writers and intellectuals over theyears.76 A phenomenon so deeply rooted in Galician culture that it even featuresin the Galician anthem, Os Pinos (The Pines) written by Eduardo Pondal andPascual Veiga in 1890.77

After the end of the war in 1939, Francos Spanish nationalism promoted aunitary national identity through the suppression of Spains cultural diversity.All cultural activities were subject to censorship and many of them were plainlyforbidden, quite often rather erratically so. Linguistic policies were alsoemployed in an attempt to establish national homogeneity. Francos regime

promoted Spanish and marginalised peripheral languages such as Catalan,Galician, and Euskera. The use of languages other than Spanish was forbiddenin official contexts such as in schools, advertising, or road and shop signs.Publications in peripheral languages were generally limited too. This was thesituation throughout the forties and, to a lesser extent, during the fifties but,

during the 1960s, with the arrival of TV sets, the economic agreement ofFrancos regime with the United States and the first steps towards a globalisedworld allowed a certain cultural openness on the peninsula, which was alsomirrored in the non-Castilian Spanish cultures. Their languages were now freelyspoken, written, and performed although they were never accorded officialstatus. But it is also important to note that in this sense, once the totalitarianstates that initially supported Franco in Spain disappeared with the fall of NaziGermany and Fascist Italy, different laws, merely aesthetic, were passed in

75 Although these two works are especially representative of William Shakespeare in Cunqueiro,many other contributions published in the Galician press for several decades exemplify theprolific relationship between the English and the Galician writer. See Jarazo and Domnguez(2010).76 This volume provides information to the non-informed reader about the reception of British andIrish writers in Spain, with a specific chapter dedicated to Galicia (De Toro Santos and Clark2007).77 De Toro Santos (2007). This book provides extended knowledge on the influence of Irish

culture in Galicia.


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order to promote an appearance of normality within the Spanish state. This isthe case of the Referendum Act or the Law of Succession.78

Linguistic repression also resulted in attempts towards the preservation of

the Galician language and culture by those in exile: people in the periphery hadto resort to foreign media such as the BBC for news about their own communitybroadcast in their mother tongue. Many Galician intellectuals had been forcedinto exile by the regime, the Galician language had been prohibited and, as the

BBC Year Book states: Since the war, the chief demand of the Spanishaudience of the BBC has been for more news and comment about Spain; one ofthe ways of endeavouring to meet this demand has been the introduction of aweekly series of Spain regional programmes, a different part of Spain coveredin each (BBC Year Book1948:125-6). From 1947 to 1956 Galician people hadthe chance to tune in the English BBC to listen to programmes about Galiciawhich were broadcast in the Galician language despite Francos censorship.

Needless to say, the Spanish media had always been controlled by the regimefor propagandistic purposes.

Most of this cultural and literary reception in Galicia of the British, Irishand North American traditions could not be understood without the help ofPlcido Castro.79 Though condemned to censorship and silence and living inexile in the United Kingdom until 1956, Castro would fight from abroad againstFrancos repression. He assumed the role of universalising Galician culturethrough two cultural landmarks: his BBC radio broadcast series on Galicia,

presented exclusively in the Galician language (1947-1956), and the publicationof the bookPoesa inglesa e francesa vertida ao galego (English and French

poetry translated into Galician) (1949). Due to Castros radio broadcasting,Galician tradition was more alive than ever and it was better known abroad than

78 See J. Candela Pea (1953), and the laws edited in Gonzlez-Ares (1999). As far as censorshipis concerned, Carlos Barrera mentions that between 1962 and 1966 Spain experienced anincreased press freedom. Fraga brought new life to the Ministry of Information and decisively

addressed the need to bury the outdated and anachronistic press law of 1938 and replace it by amore liberal one (Barrera 1995:88). Quotations in this article have been translated by theauthors, unless otherwise specified.79 Plcido Ramn Castro del Ro (1902-1967), born in Corcubin, moved at six years old to livein Scotland, and attended the School of Scarborough, Glasgow. Castro, from an early age, joinedthe political struggle of the Galician front during the Second Spanish Republic. Arising from hisinterest in the Irish model, he wrote Homesickness and art in the Celtic sphere (1928), and alsoseveral articles and literary translations that connect the Galician cultural literary tradition withthe Scottish and Irish traditions, such as Irish sighs (1974) or Remembering Robert Burns(1965). As a political correspondent on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, he also published manyarticles and translations that provide the basis of Cunqueiros passion for Celticism and

Anglophilia. See Jarazos Plcido Castro e o xornalismo galego [...] (2010).


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it was in Spain.80 Exile therefore gave place to a Galician cultural space beyondthe borders of the physical Galician territory which was indeed an impossiblespace within the geographical limits of Galicia. The British media thus becamea means to transmit a foreign culture which was consumed in Galicia and inEngland by uninformed Galician citizens both at home and in exile. Thedifference is based on the spatial alienation that allows the exile access to first-hand information from home, whereas those at home need to learn ofthemselves through a foreign medium (Rouse 1991:13). Plcido Castro must beconceived therefore as one of the pioneering Galician journalists and translatorsof the 20th century, who was actively supporting Galician culture from a

position of exile. Plcido Castro constitutes, in the work of lvaro Cunqueiro, aunique reference point, as Cunqueiro owes much of his professional activity,

both as a journalist and as a translator, to his predecessor.81

As for this generation and its predecessors, constructing Galician identityunder Celtic origins allowed them to differentiate themselves from theMediterranean influence of the Spanish State. They established cultural andliterary connections with Ireland as much as with other Celtic nations such asCornwall, Brittany, Wales or Scotland, while the United States of America andthe United Kingdom were also considered relevant sources of information. Thisnew spatial creation, firstly acknowledged from Celticism, is essential inunderstanding firstly, Cunqueiros early publications such as Merlin andCompany or Chronicles of the Subchantor, derived from the traditional

connections amongst the so-called Celtic communities. During these years,Ireland became the main object of affection of Celtic followers such asXeracin Ns (We generation Sinn Fin) and Irmandades da Fala (TheLanguage Brotherhood). A varied range of periodicals at the beginning of thetwentieth century such as A Nosa Terra and Ns would accentuate therelationship between Galicia and Ireland. McKevitt explains that this interestcould be based on the magnificent Irish culture, but also on the political struggleand final independence of the present Republic:

ForIrmandades da Fala andXeracin Ns, the parallels between Ireland and

Galicia were significant. They included the colonization and repression by aneighboring country, the precarious status of the mother language, the revivalof interest in culture and the need for its preservation, the loss of natives dueto emigration, a common faith in Catholicism, and struggle for independence.The Galician intellectuals identified with the Irish who, like themselves, were

80 The workGalicia desde Londres (Galicia from London), by Antonio Toro Raul Santos is amust read for those who wish to deepen in their understanding of these years in the life of PlacidoCastro.81 For more information on the professional relationship between Castro and Cunqueiro, see

Jarazo (2009).


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a peripheral European culture struggling for their own cultural and nationalidentity. Consequently, the subject of Ireland and the Irish became anobligatory and ideologically imperative reference. (2006:10)

This imperative reference, in McKevitts words, represented only a firststage in Cunqueiros literary career. Cunqueiro became disillusioned withCelticism during the Civil War, while the theses which attempted to show the

proximity of the Galician community to the Celtic communities wereincreasingly refuted in society and among intellectuals of the time. As a resultof this change of mentality, ardent Celticism was even criticized by those whohad previously defended it.82 Lacking a medium to explain the culturaldifferences between the Galician community and the rest of the Spanish state,some Galician intellectuals turned to Atlanticism rather than Celticism, a

phenomenon which links could be formed between the various Atlantic

communities from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The result iscultural and mythical Atlantic space which would be in permanent conflict witha Mediterranean space of culture symbolising Castilian dominance (Risco1961:13).

Cunqueiro's exploration of Atlanticism redefines the scope of his writing.The Chronicles of the Subchantor, in which his adaptation ofRomeo and Julietappears, is set in French Brittany one of the more representative of the Atlanticcommunities. The ocean also constitutes the central space in his narrativewriting The Boyhood Deeds of Ulysses, and also in his theatrical works.83

Despite his interest in Atlanticism, Cunqueiro does not abandon the classicalworks or the authors such as William Shakespeare who so influenced his lifeand literary work. His own personal anglophilia and his admiration forShakespeare in this stage of transition led to the first adaptation ofRomeo and

Julietin Galicia literature. Funcin de Romeo e Xulieta, Famosos Namorados(The play of Romeo and Juliet, Famous Lovers) is a free adaptation of theVeronese couples story portrayed by William Shakespeare, and is part of thenovel Chronicles of the Subchantor (1956). Winning the Critics Prize in 1959for the self-translation which Cunqueiro undertook at the time,84 this novel isone of his most celebrated works, and tells the story of the peregrination of the

82 See Cunqueiro'sEl ao del cometa con la batalla de los cuatro reyes (1974) (The year of thecomet), written in his latter stage, in which the characters whom he had previously praised nowbecome the object of ridicule and mockery. See specifically chapters 2.2 and 2.5 of lvarez,Marta (2010).83 See the references to the castle in Elsinor and the ocean waves in CunqueirosDon HamletandJarazo (2006).84 Cunqueiros novel was critically acclaimed by Castillian intelligentsa during Francoisms mostdecisive years. This prize certainly secures the recognition of his many years as a writer, but it

also suggests the social acceptance of the novel under the regime.


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Subchantor of Pontivy through French Brittany accompanied by various ghostsalong the way. However, few readers have detected the profound symbolicmeaning of this novel, or grasped its cohesion with Shakespeares Romeo and

Juliet.85 In Spitzmessers words Cunqueiros travel narratives became a rathersuccessful technique to escape Francos repression and fulfil his utopianexpectations. In fact, Spitzmessers theory on the implications travel narrativeshad during the Spanish post-Civil War period also corresponds, in a way, withCunqueiros conception of fiction and reality:

In Freudian terms the journey is related to the desire for death, to thepermanent settlement in a place where there is no privileged imbalance orstruggle. In a Lacanian sense, it could also be expressed as a symbolicattempt to recover the past through fables, in a process of manipulation oflanguage that rejects a real world too terrible to be assumed. (1995:71)

This terrible world which both Cunqueiro and Spitzmesser describe duringFrancoism must confront numerous obstacles such as censorship or the regimesopposition to the cultural peripheries which had up to then coexisted with theSpanish state. Galicia society had declined in all aspects of its cultural lifeincluding theatre. Francos regime in Galicia provoked more harmful and

persistent effects on theatre than on any other literary or artistic field. Themodest but intense stage activity during the twenties and thirties was followed

by an almost absolute emptiness. When Cunqueiro was writing Don Hamlet(1958) and A noite vai coma un ro (1960) only Galaxia Press worked,

confronting official hindrance, for the cultural recovery of Galicia and sought tomaintain cultural life, before the war. Institutions such as Escola DramticaGalega (Galician Drama School) and Escola Rexional de Declamazn(Regional Performance School) had no alternative but to close, whichnegatively influenced interpretative quality. In the sixties, actors and directorswilling to reignite the history of Galician theatre held few references except forthose provided by cinema and theatre on TV. Old theatres, which had been veryactive during the twenties and the Republican years, were now turned intocinemas due to the disinterest of Francos officials. The authors who insisted onwriting plays in Galician knew they were writing an invention called theatre to

85Apart from the fact that Romeos name stands for pilgrim or wanderer (Florio 1598:333),

criticism has recently established the importance of space, banishment and travel withinShakespeares early play. Exile and location are generic topics to pastoral comedy, Petrarchanconventions, or many Shakespearean plays, when it applies to punishment, plot-twistings, orrevenge (Kingsley-Smith 2003:3-4). In ShakespearesRomeo and Juliet, the importance of spaceis, in fact, exemplified by Romeos exile and the final misunderstanding, key factors in theresolution of the drama. Even the city of Verona, present in the prologue and the final act,becomes a claustrophobic space that constituted by the feud, asserts itself like any ideology as

the only reality (Snyder 1996:93) possible for these lovers.


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read. Cunqueiro shows his uneasiness with a theatre scene that makesperformance almost impossible in an interview published in Grial. The writingexists, of course, but the author is aware that theatre is an art that demandsstaging, the communication through the actors live and actual voice on thestage. When asked about his dramatic work, the writer declares he will not writea play again without assurance that an audience will see it performed on thestage: I have three, four, five unfinished short plays, notes here and there,undeveloped because I do not enjoy publishing them anymore. I will not publishany other play. If I finish any of them, I will be sure they will be staged86(Lago et al 1993:486).

This attitude of the writer reveals that one of the first problems in his stageplay corresponds to the absence of a physical space where to represent hisplays. Cunqueiro, therefore, accepts that it must transgress the natural space ofGalician theatrical activity if he wants to continue writing theatre.87 This is howCunqueiro writes this adaptation ofRomeo and Juliet. In this sense, the realm ofimagined spaces in Galician literature and in Cunqueiro becomes acontroversial but central issue. Such is the state of Galician culture andtheatrical production at the time, that Cunqueiros Funcin de Romeo eXulieta, famosos namorados (1956) does not even constitute a real play. Theimprovised, almost nonexistent play in five scenes is forced into the novel. InAraceli Garca Ballesteros words Funcin de Romeo e Xulieta is a play thatreacts against a pice bien faite, against every prototype of dead and

unimaginative drama, which was everywhere and, of course, also present inGalician theatre (Herrero 1991:143).

The story tells the adventures of executed ghosts such Madame Clarina,whom the Subchantor falls in love with, or Colonel Pierre Coulaincourt, whowas executed for crimes that are explained through the course of narration.Anne Charles Mathieu Crozon Gunola,the Subchantor of the choir in a churchin the city of Pontivy is kidnapped by the ghosts. Even though the action in the

play takes place in French Brittany, Cunqueiro subtly hints at the well-knowntechnique of the play-within-the-play that Shakespeare employs in Hamlet, and

introduces, in the middle of the novel, a small theatrical adaptation based in

86 Cunqueiros adaptation of a play by the Irish writer Lord Dunsany A sentencia dourada (TheGolden Doom) (1980) is the only exception. This play reminds us of his previous Funcin in itstreatment of symbolism and space: Now I introduce the reader to a play written by LordDunsany. It is not a translation, as I add some scenes and dialogues from my own imagination.[] I believe that, if Lord Dunsany, a dreamer, would have had any news of my interference inhis short play, he would not take it as an offense (Dunsany 1980: 87).87 There also exists an adaptation for radio of the play Sueo de una Noche de San Juan (AMidsummer Nights Dream) written by lvaro Cunqueiro and edited by Xavier Seoane & Lino

Braxe:A mxia da palabra: Cunqueiro na rdio (1991).


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Verona, in what may be deemed a play-within-the-novel. The first evident hintby Cunqueiro is towards the literary genre itself as a space.88 Cunqueiro, ajournalist and editor-in-chief for over twenty years, is well aware of theimportance of the physical space in writing, be it in a news article or in anyother of the dominant literary genres. The Galician writer thereby breaks withwhat may be called the formal classical space in which the adaptation ofRomeoand Juliet, a theatrical piece, should be written and adapts it as a novel. Thesecond clue is the opposition that exists between the space in the novel and inthe theatrical adaptation. The events of the novel take place within the Atlanticframework, in French Brittany, while the Funcin de Romeo e Xulieta takes

place in Verona, Italy, a much more evident symbol of Mediterranean cultureand a direct heir to the Roman Empire. This novel thereby makes specificreference to the authors transition from Celticism to Atlanticism, and

subsequently to Anglophilia.89

Within the symbolic space of Funcin, thetheatrical adaptation begins with an explanatory note:

My novel Chronicles of the Subchantor, tells the story of several deadcharacters and the Subchantor of Pontivy on a carriage. By daylight, theylook like people of this world, with their flesh, as before crossing the

boundaries of death, whereas by night, the skeletons come to light. Beingmistaken in a Breton village of France for the Italian comedians who weredue to perform the play ofRomeo and Juliet, they had no other option but togo on stage, to improvise the following play, with an agreed text, as it seems,

by colonel Coulaincourt of Bayeux and madame Clarina of Saint-Vaast. The

V scene, is taken from the Subchantors notes.90 (Cunqueiro 2004:199)As Cunqueiro points out the ghosts in the narrative are mistaken for Italian

players coming to France in order to stage an English drama which wasoriginally set in Italian Verona. Cunqueiro works on the Shakespearean plot to

88To start with, the marginal status of Galician language and Galician drama, as well as

Cunqueiros experimentation with the theatre of the absurd in a non-educated ambience, suggestbanishment or exile from the official literary canon, as critics reviews and audiences letterspublicly addressed to Cunqueiro have evidenced (Cunqueiro 1958:25).

89 However, Cunqueiros use of space as a means of adapting a mythical character has also beenstudied in several of his novels such asMerlin and Company (1955) (Noia 1982), Chronicles ofthe Subcantor(1956) (Spitzmesser 1995), The Boyhood Deeds of Ulysses (1960) (Lpez 2004), aswell as in hisDon Hamlet(1958) (Jarazo 2006).90 Na mia novela As crnicas do sochantre, xa se conta que os finados que van en carroza cosochantre de Pontivy, de dia aparecen como xente deste mundo, coas carnes que tian candopasaron s alamedas da morte, e polas noites poen luz os seus esqueletes. Tendo sido estesdifuntos do meu relato confundidos nun pobo de Bretaa de Francia cos cmicos italins que ibana representar a funcin de Romeo e Xulieta, non tiveron mis remedio que rubir a tboas, eimprovisar a peza que aqui vai, texto acordado, ao parecer, polo coronel de Coulaincourt deBayeux e madame Clarina de Saint-Vaast. A escea V, est tomada das notas que deixu o

sochantre [Translations in this article are the authors, unless otherwise specified].


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fit the tastes of Galician people for fable and myth. Geographical, cultural andlinguistic incongruity, cultural starvation, siege and desperation are present inCunqueiros impossible Verona as it was in the moribund and almost inexistentGalicia that existed under Francos regime. Given the impossibility of aGalician dramatic tradition in the 20th century, Cunqueiros Funcin reachesits audience as a play-within-a-novel play. In the same way, as the piece isnever staged in contemporary Galicia, the play as such finally vanishes withinthe narrative as soon as the players get back to their original skeletonappearances.

The story of Romeo and Juliet has been told in many different ways byauthors from all over the world and it always seems to appeal to the audience. It

belongs to the worlds collective memory and has thus transcended the possibledifficulties that its multicultural versions may have entailed. This tragic legendis reminiscent of certain well known episodes of Greek mythology such asHero and Leander or Pyramus and Thisbe. It also evokes some medievallegends although its plot was originally outlined in Xenophon of Ephesus

Ephesian Romance. But its most direct source is The Tragical History ofRomeus and Juliet (1562), a long narrative poem by Arthur Brooke based onBoaistuaus translation of Bandellos novel (1554). Compared with Brookes,however, Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet is enriched by the presence ofsecondary characters that highlight the realistic background of the play andunderline the social differences of its time. As it was pointed out by ngel-Luis

Pujante,Romeo and Julietdisplays a much improved relation between languageand action and between language and character than any other previousShakespearean play. And the variety of styles can be understood as a widediversity of settings and moods: The work is abundant in dramatic contrastsserved by a rich verbalisation in which the verse coexists with the prose, theloose verse with the rhymed, the cult with the colloquial and the lyric with thedramatic (2002:10).

According to Purificacin Ribes, this fact had been previously noticed byimportant authors like H. B. Charlton, M. C. Bradbrook, I. Evans, D, Cole or H.

Levin. But G. Melchiori is the first to go a step further by pointing to thestylistic variety of the play as a consequence of the political situation ofEngland at the time (Conejero and Ribes 1991:9-11). In this sense, Clara Calvoexplains, by quoting Norman Jones, that William Shakespeare had already been

born into a moribund culture. By the time Shakespeare began to write, Englandwas going through a time of extraordinary change in society, politics,economics and religion. In other words, there was a change in the culture andthe relationship between the individual and his/her environment. The trigger forthese changes, although not the only cause, was undoubtedly the religiousconflict that emerged from the clash between Catholicism and the Protestant


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Reform (Pujante and Calvo 2002:191). However, besides the stylistic contrasts,this Shakespearean tragedy also deals with related conflicts such as idealism-realism, comedy-tragedy, or youth-maturity. Ribes highlights the moral distancewhich separates the young couple from the world of adults as one of the

permanent obstacles they must attempt to overcome. While Romeo and Julietlive every moment of their lives with a fierce intensity, their parents and therepresentatives of maturity remain anchored in a past of memories. They aretotally unaware of the interests of the new generations, which will increasingly

become more isolated (Conejero and Ribes 1991:32). Thus, these conflicts arealso applied to location and displacement in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet.However, what happens with these oppositional locations in an evasive writersuch as Cunqueiro?

The situation described by Shakespeare is quite familiar for Galicianpeople living under the outstanding contrasts originated during Francosdictatorship. The beginning of Francoism signalled the death of Galician cultureas well as the silent, clandestine fight for a new democratic era against anancient power which faced the interests of democratic generations. And secrecyitself involves deep conflicts, alienation, nonsense, isolation and even death inan unequal fight for change. Romeos letter, hence, the only clear reference tothe Shakespearean play in the funci Conejero and Ribes n, is not real either.Once the representation is over, a girl in the audience discovers that the letterthat has just been read by the deceased girl playing the role of Xulieta was

empty of Romeos beautiful, idealised words: Mother, mother! There was noRomeo, neither memories, nor lillies!91 (Cunqueiro 2004: 213). According toXos Mara Paz Gago, these final words uttered by the girl in the courtyard:

[] condense the unconceivable message, the storyline and existentialemptiness, the tragic humour of the theatre of the absurd: if there is no baldsinger in Cantarice Chauve, if there is no African pachyderm inRinoceronte,if Godot never turns out in Waiting for Godot, Cunqueiro makes the little girl

by the window in Comfront the most impersonal character in Funcin deRomeo e Xulieta. (Paz 1993:469)

The sense of tragedy and the black humour are two of the formal recoursesof the theatrical adaptation that create an atmosphere of desperation that growsthrough the course of the play. However, Cunqueiro bring large doses ofmacabre humour to the story in prejudice to the classic tragic catharsis of otherworks such as hisDon Hamlet. For example, the so-called love letter is actuallya cruel list of all the taxes to be paid by the impoverished citizens, a marriagelicence included:

91

a nai, a nai! Non haba Romeo, nin memorias, nin lirios! (Cunqueiro 2004: 213).


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Comfront Council in Landes. A licence for coastgard vessel Chaillot, namedBraque, to marry citizen Bonnet, named Fleur Tranquille, the 6th ofSpringtime. A franc for the licence. A licence for old Gomn, to pick up lostcagallns on the market on Thursdays. Free licence. A licence for tailor

Terne to sew national buttons on trousers. Two francs.92

(Cunqueiro2004:212)

This list is especially cruel given the situation of famine and thedesperation of the people of Verona portrayed throughout the funcin. As theopening lines of the play explain, Verona has been under siege, starvation, andin isolation and fear for eleven years: Eleven hard years! At last, after elevenyears under siege, these sad Swissmen finish the siege on Verona. They wereconstant shadows on the walls of our village93 (201). One of the charactersdescribes death enclosed in the interior space of Verona resulting from eleven

years of siege. Nature has been devoured by the starving citizens of Verona sothat it is now as dead as the sieged citizens. There is no green life or ideallandscapes within enclosure, which contrasts one again with the gardens of thecastle inDon Hamlet(Jarazo 2006:141-154):

Eleven years of death, starvation, thirst, and fear. We are ghosts, wandererson the squares, streets, on the yards, [...] more than free citizens of Verona[] There is no green in Verona, because it was the food for the motherswho were feeding their toddlers. There is no nightingale on the fountain. Itwas eaten by the girls, who wanted their boyfriends to see something morethan their bones. And nobody was able to sing in Verona, there was no air.

For eleven years, our doors were completely locked. The Swissmen are nowgone, and we are waking up little by little, like a foggy daybreak after a longWinter night. We will now know more after the Swiss withdrawal, it is saidsome mail is coming along the river from Sienna.94 (204-5)

92 Alcalda de Comfront en Landes. Licencia ao gardarrios Chaillot, dito Braque, pra casar coacidadana Bonnet, dita Fleur Tranquille, o seis de Froleal. Un franco pola licencia. Licencia vellaGomn, pra andar aos cagalls perdidos nos mercados dos xoves. Gratuto. Licencia ao xastre

Terne pra pr botns nacionais nos culotes. Dous francos (Cunqueiro 2004:212).93 SOLDADO: Once anos de sudarvos! Ao fin, tras once anos de sitio, eses tristes suizos erguerono cerco de Verona. Foron como nboa borrallenta apegada s murallas da nosa vila (201).94 Once anos tivmolos ao pescozo coma corda de xusticia. Once anos de morte, de fame, desede, de medo. Mis que xente libre de Verona somos unha corte de pantasmas, vagabunda polasprazas e ras, polos patios de armas... Non hai unha herba en Verona, porque foi comida polasnais pra amamantar aos nenos. Non hai un reiseor na pineta porque foi xantado polas mozas prapodere gardar pra os seus namorados algo mis que o esquelete. E nin habia quen poidese cantaren Verona, que non habia er, once anos pechadas as nosas portas. Vanse os suizos, e ns andaestamos espertando a poucos, como alba rosada aps unha longa noite de inverno. Canto haxa deverdade nesta marcha speta dos suizos, sabermolo agora, que anuncian que chega un correo de

Siena polos pasos do ro (204-5).


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But in addition to the clear contrast between the fertile and infertile land, orthe opposition between incarceration and freedom, also evident inDon Hamlet,one of the most significant in the treatment of space in both works is when thespace of the Elsinors castle finally opens up at the end of the play, without the

public realising the consequences of this action. However, in Funcin,Cunqueiro concentrates all his creativity on showing that which he had notshown in the work about the Prince of Denmark: the consequence of openingthe space that had been under siege for years to the exterior, and the tragicimpact this was to have on its characters:95 ANOTHER SOLDIER: They areopening the doors!96 (201), and the city of Verona is no longer under siege.

Striking similarities could be deducted from the devastating effects of theCivil War, also aggravated by the adoption of autarkic economic policy until1951. Those were times of state intervention; economic stagnation,unemployment, hunger, and low growth rates. The regime supported anisolating industrial system that promoted only goods for internal consumption(Tusell 1991:554). In February 1957, only a year after the publication of theChronicles, the Falangist Government was replaced by a group of Opus Deiministers called technocrats. The new government opened the Spanish marketto neoliberalism, causing social disconcert among the population, which wasvery similar to the experienced by the inhabitants of Verona.

Similarly, in the play, desperation is no longer focused on a closed space,the lack of communication with the outward world. Desperation is now focusedon starvation, thirst and hunger. The fact that the only element now enteringVerona is a letter is significant, emphasising the desperation of the citizens. Theexpectant audience waits for the letter to bring with it news of food,liberalisation and change. This is the only reason why they finally agree tolisten to Xulietas reading: Silence! silence! This letter maybe brings goodnews for all of us, for the city of Verona. Maybe the sender does not knowanyone in this village apart from Lady Xulieta. We may have news in the letterabout Mantuas wheat, Venetian oxen, wine, and our remaining friends97 (207-208). However, the letter and the play, the longed change, the liberalisation and

the food turn out to be but a mirage. In fact, the pretend players turn intoskeletons with the onset of night and the already scared audience panics:

95 For a detailed analysis of the impact of the siege on the people in the theatrical adaptationRomeo and Juliet, see Jarazo and Domnguez (2010:133-145).96 OUTRO SOLDADO: Xa estn abrindo as portas! (201).97 Silencio, silencio! Esta carta quizabes trai novas pra todos, pra a cidade de Verona toda. Quena escribe pode ser que non seipa de ningun mis nesta vila que de dona Xulieta. Virn quizabesnoticias do trigo de Mantua, dos bois de Venecia, do vio, e de cantos amigos nos quedan no

mundo (207-8).


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Xulietas hands, by the torchs light, are nude of flesh. Xulieta, afraid of herown appearance, let the missive fall. Citizens start to scream loudly. Somecitizens cry in despair[]98 (211). As a result, the initial expectations finallycarry added fear, despair and confusion. Now everybody in the audience thinksthat Romeos love letter their only possible opportunity of a better life is a

plague bringing up misfortunes with it: Swissmen retreat because of the Blackdeath! The letter did not bring us love but Black death! Black Death! BlackDeath has arrived from Sienna!99 (211). The audience runs away impromptu

but making for a rather sordid ending an old woman remains at the closingscene who asks begging for food once the funcin, the players and the letterare fatally gone: My dear child, my dear child, do you know if they give free

bread in Lanrival on Saturdays?100 (212). As Paz Gago explains:

People from Verona are only concerned about the satisfaction of their

primary needs, which explains their absurd yearning for Mantuas wheat,Venices oxen, bread and wine; the climax of black humour comes when theysuggest eating the mailmans horse, a proposition humorously highlighted bythe Chorus: Give us a portion of horse!; something far removed from whatthe reader might expect from the function of the two popular lovers.(1993:469)

As highlighted by Paz Gago, the absurd dialogues and grotesque situationsof the absurd theatre of the 1940s and 1950s, supplied Cunqueiro with anexistential debate that questioned valid society and the man that lived in it. It is

through formal elements, such as apparently senseless plots, repetitive dialoguesand the absence of a clear dramatic sequence that Cunqueiro can create adreamlike atmosphere allowing him to cast doubt over all that ferventcensorship. However, this sense of humour, as well as absurd theatre, creates atragic atmosphere similar to that described by Pujante in William Shakespeares

Romeo and Juliet. In Pujantes opinion, this work has a tragic effect becausethe protagonists, with whom it is easy to identify, are vulnerable victims of asituation of hatred and violence that they neither want nor can remedy(2002:29). Cunqueiro does not need to tell a legendary story already known tohis audience. The five scenes of his one single act are enough for the author to

adapt the five acts of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet and to extract all theelements which can better fit the tastes and needs of Galician society at thetime. All in all, as Pujante states, what prompts us to Shakespeares Romeo and

Julietis not its formal or argumentative rigour, but how the actions of various

98 As mans de Xulieta, luz da linterna, vense descobertas de carne. Xulieta, horrorizada de smesma, deixa cair a carta. As xentes estalan en grandes berros e choros (211).99 Os suizos fronse porque via a peste!Non tragua amor o correo, que tragua a peste! Apeste moura! Veu a peste de Siena! (211).100

Nena, nena, i volven a dar esmola de pan en Lanrival os sbados? (212).


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characters represent a permanent threat to the happiness of the protagonists(28). And this last idea is perfectly transmitted by Cunqueiro. Externalcircumstances also continually prevent happiness, love, life, and self-realisationinRomeo and Julietas in Funcin de Romeo e Xulieta, as was also the casein Francos Galicia and Spain. No matter how much the characters or Galiciancitizens and intellectuals beg for change, death is the unavoidable ending in allcases.

The protagonists and their ideal longings are definitely outshone by theexternal circumstances and the secondary characters in both Shakespeare andCunqueiros works. This is also the case in Galicia, where the social and

political circumstances of Francos dictatorship outshine the cultural longings ofGalician citizens, who can only know of their identity and language throughtheir fellow countrymen in exile. News always comes from an external space.Those external circumstances and disruptions are solved in Shakespeare bylocation opposition in Romeo and Juliet, as used in the balcony lines, andadapted by Cunqueiro into an oppositional scheme of place (in and out). Thisscheme is also reinforced with the lack of, or the ineffectiveness ofcommunication surrealist dialogues in the Galician adaptation andinterruptions. In Shakespeares, Juliet is indirectly introduced in the third sceneof the play through the dialogue that her father holds with Paris. Later, whenshe finally appears in the fourth scene, her presence is completely dominated byher mother and wet nurses commentaries and opinions. This is also the case in

Cunqueiros work. He introduces Xulieta in the third of his five scenes, whenshe is found out to be the addressee of the letter: To my dearest infanta ofVerona, lady Xulieta101 (Cunqueiro 2004:207). But the only information abouther is provided by the gossiping of the secondary characters in the audience:Who is lady Xulieta? She is a lady, a famous lover! Is she the daughter ofScala []? No, [] she is the daughter of Capulet family in the old square.[] She is very young. Her family gained their fortune by exporting onions toVenice. They used to export silky linen102 (208). This last reference to the pastconveys a new spatial opposition inside-main plot / outside-secondary plotunder siege Verona. Throughout the play, the citizens of Verona are waiting forfood and freedom to get inside in the near future. This is the only reference to agolden age in the play, including also the idea of food getting outside Verona.The outside of Verona, however, is destroyed by Swiss soldiers, probably inorder to avoid Black death expanding to other territories: AN OLD MAN:

101 Para a mui dolorida infanta de Verona, doa Xulieta (Cunqueiro 2004:207).102 Qun esa dona Xulieta? de seores. unha namorada clebre. Unha dos Caputelo queparu dun ferreiro? Non, esta non paru, que dos Montescos da praza vella. Pois tamn unhacaste de xente amancebada. Esta novia. Fixeron o seu capital mandando cebolas a Venecia.

Tamn mandaban fo de seda (208).


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Swissman are burning the fields! They are burning everything theyre notcarrying with them!103 (201). In this quotation, the outside world is beingdestroyed by foreigners citizens born in a different space or land -. This issignificantly interesting as the lands being wasted are outside Verona, ratherthan destroying the inside of the corrupted city. In a way, Cunqueiro isemphasizing the fact that there is nothing left to destroy in Verona. As acontrast, the inner space in Elsinor in Don Hamletsuffers the consequences ofthe uncontrollable winds inside the castle only by the end of play.

As for Galician Romeo, depicted by Shakespeare as a codified Petrarchancharacter following Baldassare CastiglionesBook of the Courtier(1528), thereis no reference to him until the fourth scene of the funcin, and the he ismerely referred to as the author of the letter addressed to Xulieta. He never

physically appears on stage and therefore cannot interact with Xulieta.Similarly, Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet appear together only four timesthroughout the play: when they meet in the party, in the balcony scene, whenarranging to get married and right before their separation. The balcony scene isthe longest one (approximately one hundred and forty verses), followed by thefarewell (about sixty). The other two encounters are extremely brief: eighteenverses when they first meet and eleven before marriage. Romeo would haveloved to be on Juliets balcony in much the same way that Cunqueiroscharacters beg for the city walls to open and let food and hope in. Similarly,characters in Shakespeare and Cunqueiro do not really manage to share a

common space for communication and understanding, as they are alwaysseparated by top/bottom - inside/outside spaces in conflict. And yet, common toall of these brief and conflictive meetings, according to Pujante, is the fact thatthey are constantly interrupted by the mother, the nurse, or the friar (2002:29).In Cunqueiros, these constant interruptions are drawn on stage with secondarydialogues, that extend throughout the play, and the lyric discourse, aroused byan impossible passion, used in Xulietas reflections and Romeos letter. Theseshould be considered as one of Cunqueiros best poetic efforts according to PazGago (1993:469). Hence the messages of fear and misfortune, together with thedepiction of the situation of Verona and its citizens at the time, similarly reachCunqueiros readers through the secondary characters permanent interruptionsand gossiping. In the following lines, the plague is announced by as xentes inthe audience:

103

UN VELLO PEISANO: Est ardendo o campo dos suizos! Queiman o que non se levan! (201).


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CITIZENS ON THE WALL, THE SQUARE AND THE WHOLE VILLAGE

The Black death has arrived! The comedians brought the Black death! TheItalian Black death has arrived! Love brought the Black death on its bones!Look at Death! The Black death! The Black death!104 (Cunqueiro 2004:211)

This excerpt might suggest that the inhabitants in Verona believe that onlymisfortune and horrible deeds can be expected from the outer space. In a way,this statement is closely linked to the pessimism of the citizens, and theuncertainty of the time in Verona, reflecting Spains uncertainties caused by therecent economic and social changes in Francos regime. The citizens gossipingalso introduces Xulieta in the third scene providing a setting of fear and siege inthe first scene. The whole idea of the arrival of the letter is narrated by theexpectant citizens and their guessing at the beginning of the funcin:

A SOLDIERIt is said there is some mail from Mantua coming along the river!A WOMANAnother soldier told me Mantua was burnt.AN OLD MANThen, it must be from Venice.A WOMANSomeone saw some mailman from Venice approaching the river in his horse.A MERCHANTThere is no Venetian mailman upon his horse, he would have chosen amaritime route. He must be from Sienna, if Mantua was finally burnt.105(203)

Secondary and external data by means of gossiping is the only availableinformation in the plays by both Shakespeare and Cunqueiro symbolising, in thelatter, Galicias marginal position in the Spanish state during Francos regimeand the role of exiled intellectuals responsible for reviving local culture from anoutward position. Both the mailman and the gossiping might manifestCunqueiros symbolic use of information. As a journalist, the Galician writer isaware of the influence of censorship, but also of the liberating power of

104 AS XENTES DA MURALLA E DA PRAZA E O POBO TODO: A peste! Trouxrona os cmicos! Apeste moura de Italia! O amor tragua a peste nos sos! Mirade a morte! A peste! A peste!(Cunqueiro 2004:211).105 UN SOLDADO: Din que vn un correo de Mantua, e que xa pasou o ro!UNHA MULLER: Mantua dixo outro seor soldado que a queimaran.UN PEISANO: Pois entn ser un correo de Venecia.UNHA MULLER: Ven correo de Venecia dacabalo. Xa o viran pasa-lo ro.UN MERCADER: Dacabalo non poder ser de Venecia. Ese vira polo mar. Ser de Siena, si que

queimaron Mantua (203).


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information.106 Miscommunication, frustration and alienation inside Galicia aresimilarly posed throughout the play by Cunqueiro:

A WOMAN

Will they bring some bread, sir?AN OLD MANWill they bring some Mantuas wheat?A SOLDIERWhen are they going to sell Venetian oxen in the market again?A WOMANWe want bread! A small piece of bread, sir!A CORPORALIf someone gave us some food, we would calmly listen to the news fromSienna.107 (205)

Frustration finally shows up even amongst the soldiers trapped in the city,and who should guard for the status quo in Verona. Surprisingly, the role of themilitary in the play is persistent through their dialogue with the citizens, buttheir interaction is never authoritative or negatively portrayed. Secondarycharacters permanent interruptions in these dialogues, however, resembleShakespeares Romeo and Juliet same lack of information and miss-communication among characters: The considerable absence ofcommunication between the characters, or, rather, the absence ofcommunication of essential information, or simply of utility, is almost alwaysvery poor, fragmentary, or even nonexistent, rarely limiting the field ofknowledge to more than two characters (Rutelli 1985:11-2). In fact, the use oflanguage is one of Shakespeares most original representations of exile: Themost basic equation of Shakespearean exile is that language equals creativityand thus power. Language-loss equates to silence, impotence and death(Kingsley-Smith 2003:30).

But even if Cunqueiros characters do not interact much, readers can easilyunderstand the underlying plot, through the secondary external-to-the-main-

plot- characters gossiping. They are part of the actual audience of thefuncin, knowing as much of the plot as the citizens of Verona do. Thus, the

cruel reality of the funcin is portrayed by its secondary characters while the

106Several scholars have analysed Cunqueiros use information as a means of conveying social

criticism in the Spanish press. See Mera Fernndez (2000, 2007) for more information.107 UNHA MULLER: Traguer pan, seora?UN PEISANO: Vir trigo de Mantua?UN SOLDADO: Cndo volver a venderse en Verona boi de Venecia no?UNHA MULLER: Queremos pan! Unha codia, seora!UN SOLDADO: Millor seria que deran denantes algo de comer, pra poder escoitar con calma ao

correo de Siena (205).


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ideal story of the protagonists is proven to be absolutely not real and virtuallynonexistent both in and outside the funcin itself. It is completely outshone

by this secondary disjointed narrative constructed of gossip and guessing. Boththe citizens and the audience are opened to speculations about the future of thestate. Uncertainty takes over Verona as much as it took over Spanish societyduring the rapid changes experienced by the adoption of neoliberalism andcapitalism, causing the final aperture of the regime to the world.

Isolation, alienation, secrecy, and lack of communication were all part ofeveryday Galicia under Francos regime as much as they were part ofCunqueiros version of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. The use of space isessential in order to understand how Cunqueiro reflects oppression in Galicia bymeans of this free adaptation of Shakespeare. Issues such as landscape orsimply space have proved to be compulsory in Cunqueiros aesthetics whileother ideas such as exile define a whole generation of Galician writers whoabandoned Spain in order to survive, but also a generation of writers likeCunqueiro, who experienced a pseudo-exile.108 In other words, a generationwho evaded Galicias traumatic problems after the post-civil war period throughthe imagination used in their literary creations. Cunqueiro draws a feeble line

between reality and fiction. His stories are usually intertwined with historicaland even biographical facts, e.g. his native village, Mondoedo:

Some way or another, there is always a bit of Mondoedo in my books. []Mondoedo is present in every little village I write about, no matter how

different they are. No matter if it is a Greek city where Ulysses arrives or avillage from Brittany with the Subchantor and the ghosts; every village has a

bit of my village. (Ricci 1971:337)

As we can observe in the treatment of space in the work of lvaroCunqueiro, it even has a certain biographical tone, which once againdemonstrates the Galician authors style when it comes to blurring the lines

between reality and fiction. This style allows him to play with the ability to tellstories, or to adapt others, while passing unnoticed before the eyes of thecensors of the Francoist regime. This adaptation process might seem too subtle,

or even open to subjective interpretation, however, in many interviews, theGalician writer has stated how the classical myths of universal literature, among

108 Although this act of self-alienation is commonly romanticised with the notion of artist andcreativity, Cunqueiro suffered from different levels of rejection. In fact, some critics haveestablished an ideological exile in his career coinciding with the outbreak of the Civil War andhis support to Falange Espaola until the fifties. However, he was also forced into a physicalbanishment. Cunqueiro had to leave Madrid and come back to Galicia after being expelled fromthe Journalists Registry Office when he was caught in a diplomatic incident. See Franco Grande

(1991) for more information.


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them his admired Shakespeare, constitute a revealing energy that exceeds theboundaries of censorship and repression:

Topics such as classical Greek and Latin literature are often the subject of

your books, why do you like the classics so much?[] I lived during the Civil War and subsequent years, and I had an

intellectual and moral concern about the futility of vengeance. This is what Aman who looked like Orestes is about. I have been a reader of Shakespearesince I was a child and they are all in it. One day I was surprised that Hamletdid not fit within his work. There was a missing piece. I came to realise thatthis great drama of human maturity was the Oedipus complex. In otherwords, the murderer of his father, who married his mother, was his truefather. Then everything fits and the mother wants to marry his son to avoidrevenge. After I wrote my Hamlet, other writers would come to this

discovery. Clearly, eternal human passions are all the same since the creationof classic myths. Human beings, since then, had no new passions. Everythingis in the Greeks.

It is curious, but during the German occupation of France, a Frenchmantranslated Homer. During Francoism, Segarra, in Catalonia, translatedShakespeare []. I know that censorship was ferocious against a few

paragraphs in Segarras translation, as Shakespeare was often of a politicalopinion. Thus, the classics are sometimes the means for a man to say what heis not allowed to utter in a situation without much freedom of speech.(Outeirio 1979:12)

In the end, Cunqueiro mastered the art of speaking out in a restrictive andrepressive atmosphere. This is evident not only through the formalexperimentation of his characters and spaces in his novels, such as the portrayalof Camelot in Merlin and Company, the ocean in The Boyhood Deeds ofUlysses, but also in his dramatic work: Mondoedo inDon Hamlet, and Veronain his Funcin de Romeo e Xulieta. The Galician writer adapts the literarygenres to his own taste, moulding the space to his needs, and he makes use ofdiverse symbolic spaces to reinvent well-known universal myths such as Romeoand Juliet, adapting them to the needs of the Galician community, particularly

the need for a veiled criticism of the existing system.In the years when Camilo Jos Cela and his realistic La Colmena (The

Hive) (1951) are dominant in the contemporary literary canon, Cunqueiro wasmet with ferocious criticism over the lack of a real space in his works.However, his treatment of space is more subtle than critics have until veryrecently believed. By creating a new geographical Atlantic realm, as he does inthis novel, where Galicia is placed at the same level as Brittany or Ireland, it has

proved of great importance for those who seek to voice opposition to thecultural domination of the Mediterranean. By experimenting with the symbolic

possibilities of the space in these plays, he has been able to reflect Spaniards


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pessimism experienced during the forties and fifties, as well as contributing todignifying Galician language and literature. Criticism should now encourage asecond reading of Cunqueiros Shakespearean adaptations in terms ofgeographical, cultural, and symbolic location. Both Don Hamletand Funcinde Romeo e Xulieta have proved, by means of negating a common space forcommunication, that Cunqueiros adaptation is essential in denouncing culturalrepression.

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Pujante, ngel Luis, tr., and Clara Calvo, ed. Romeo y Julieta / William Shakespeare. Madrid:Espasa Calpe, 2002.

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Risco, Vicente. El sentimiento de la tierra en la raza gallega.Leria (1961): 13.

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Rouse, Roger Mexican Migration and the Social Space of Postmodernism. Diaspora 1.1(1991): 8-23.

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Snyder, Susan. Ideology and the Feud inRomeo and Juliet. Shakespeare Survey 49 (1996): 87-96.

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How to cite this article:Jarazo lvarez, Rubn and Elena Domnguez Romero. Breaking Boundaries andDislocating Myths in lvaro Cunqueiros Funcin de Romeo e Xulieta, famososnamorados (1956): A Galician Adaptation of Shakespeares Romeo and Julietinthe 20th Century.ES. Revista de Filologa Inglesa 32 (2011): 183-206.

Authors contact: [email protected]


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